RUSSIAN BALTIC-INVASION DOCUMENT UNVEILED.

The Moscow daily Segodnya published October 20 a recent study by the Moscow-based Institute for Defense Studies regarding a possible Russian military invasion of the Baltic states. Parts of that document had been widely cited in the Russian press in the context of possible Russian countermeasures to NATO’s enlargement. The document, it turns out, also envisages military measures against the Baltic states in response to alleged mafia rule and discrimination against ethnic Russians. According to the document, Russian measures could include helping local Russians to set up parallel organs of power and paramilitary units; sending Russian troops to help them upon request; capturing Baltic leaders, and annexing territory to Russia and Belarus. These scenarios are discussed apart from Russian military moves to preempt the Baltic states’ possible accession to NATO. The document does not appear to bear a Defense Ministry imprint or to constitute a "new military doctrine" as has been widely suggested.

Shevardnadze Against CIS Bloc.